Two-time All-Star Starlin Castro will be back in the lineup for the Cubs Wednesday afternoon as they square off with the Colorado Rockies.

The 22-year-old has been out since Feb. 27 after injuring his hamstring while running the bases. Despite being out two weeks for precautionary reasons, the injury was never deemed serious, and Castro continued to practice. He’s participated in three games so far this spring.

With first baseman Anthony Rizzo out with the Italian squad at the World Baseball Classic (Italy vs. Puerto Rico, 6 p.m. CST), non-roster invitee Edwin Maysonet will get another crack at first. He’s hitting just .130 in 13 games this spring.

Scott Hairston will slide over and play center field, giving prospect Jorge Soler more time in right. The 21-year-old Soler is hitting .304 in 26 plate appearances.

Cubs fans can listen to the game’s free webcast on Cubs.com. Edwin Jackson will get the start against the Rockies, who will be sending out lefty Josh Outman. Here’s the full lineup Outman will face Wednesday:

Cubs Notes: Scott Baker is slated to make his first Spring Training start on Sunday. It will be his first official return to the mound since having Tommy John surgery in April 2012. He went two innings in a minor league game on Tuesday.

Much has been written about the organizational overhaul that has occurred on the North Side since Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer took over in November 2011. Over the last season-plus, the club has seen a dramatic improvement at both the major and minor league levels.

While many publications strongly believe in what the Cubs front office is doing, ESPN’s brain trust of baseball writers took things a step further, rating the Cubs the sixth best organization in their future power rankings.

ESPN described the piece as an attempt to measure how well teams are set up for sustained success over the next five seasons. Each team was ranked 1-30 (30 points were given if they were the best, 29 if they were second, etc.) on five different categories: major league quality, minor league quality, finances, management and mobility.

The Cubs, who ranked 16th last year, made the league’s biggest improvement. Below is what ESPN said about the club:

The Overview
In Theo We Trust. This club is undergoing a teardown unseen this side of Houston, but they’ve rid themselves of pretty much every significant payroll obligation beyond 2014. It’s been an encouraging rebuilding effort, though Matt Garza’s injury woes will prevent them from extracting full value for him in a trade. — Buster Olney

The Dilemma
They have made a lot of strides adding position-player talent to the organization, and now they must add arms. Most of their winter spending was on pitchers, but they don’t have a future ace in the pipeline. — Jim Bowden

The System
They’ve turned around substantially after trading Paul Maholm, spending lavishly on international free agents (when permitted) and drafting well in 2012, although most of what I like about this system is a good two years away. — Keith Law

In a related story, ESPN Insider Dan Szymborski projected the best 30 players in 2018, which included a pair of Cubs in the top 15: Starlin Castro (8) and Anthony Rizzo (15). Below is what Szymborski wrote about each player:

Can he stay at short? The stats have generally been more positive (or at least, less negative) on Castro’s defense than the eye has been. Wherever he ends up, by 2018 he’s likely to be one of the best hitters for average over the past decade, though he’s not going to ever be a guy who racks up walks.

Ignore Rizzo’s cup of coffee with the Padres, his .285/.342/.463 line with the Cubs in 2012 is a far more accurate representation of where he is as a player. The Theo Epstein Cubs aren’t done rebuilding yet, but if they can round up a worthwhile third baseman, the infield will already be one of the best in baseball.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro and left-fielder Alfonso Soriano have their bats ready for the Cactus League season. The Cubs open Saturday against the Angels in Tempe (Castro and Soriano are not in the lineup) and play their home opener Sunday against the Giants.

The Cubs season is officially underway. After a few weeks of workouts, batting practice and bullpen sessions, the team cranked it up to game speed in a blue vs. white intrasquad matchup Thursday afternoon at HoHoKam Stadium. The veteran-laden white team took down the top prospects in the system 7-3 in a five-inning affair.

After a rainy day yesterday in Arizona—it even snowed in some areas—the grounds crew spent most of the morning getting the HoHoKam field back in playing shape. But by game time, things had dried out.

The white team got off to a fast start off blue team starter Chris Rusin in the first. After a David DeJesus groundout, Starlin Castro doubled, Anthony Rizzo walked and Alfonso Soriano singled to load the bases. New Cubs catcher Dioner Navarro followed with a single, and third baseman Ian Stewart laced a ringing double to left center to put the white team up 4-0.

Shortstop Starlin Castro, who many expect to have a big year in 2013, got off to a good start with the bat, going 3-for-3 with a double and three runs scored.

“Castro put two good swings and then just missed another really nice swing down the right field line,” said manager Dale Sveum. “That’s obviously one guy we really don’t have to be concerned with when the numbers are all done. That guy can just hit.”

Though the white team boasted most of the projected Opening Day starters, the blue team might have been the more interesting group, as it was loaded with many of the organization’s top prospects, including Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Junior Lake and Brett Jackson.

And Soler didn’t disappoint. The left fielder gave Cubs fans a glimpse of the future when he crushed a soaring home run to left off minor league pitcher of the year Nick Struck in his first at-bat of the game. Soler also walked and made a good play coming in on a ball in left. Mind you, it was only an intrasquad, five-inning game and he was hitting off a minor league pitcher, but Soler certainly made a good impression.

“Pretty nice bat speed you saw,” Sveum said. “Those were some good at-bats—took a walk. … That guy following him up (Baez) had some pretty good bat speed going through the strike zone too—as well as Lake. There are some guys who are on that radar right now that could possibly be impact players some day.”

Top-ranked shortstop prospect Baez, who batted in the seven hole, had a little more of an up-and-down game. He struck out in the second and was robbed by Castro, who ranged to his left for a diving catch, in the fourth. On defense, he made a diving play of his own to rob David DeJesus of a single, but also got eaten up by Navarro’s single in the first.

“Baez was a little shaky today,” Sveum said. “Kind of some young stuff that’s still there that’s got to be cleaned up. [There’s] a lot of stuff, even stuff that’s behind the scenes that everybody else doesn’t see, that we have to change—some instinctive stuff.”

New Cubs right fielder Nate Schierholtz homered in the bottom of the third inning and had an RBI sac fly for the white team. Brian Bogusevic, an Oak Lawn, Ill., native who spent the last three years with the Houston Astros, also homered for the blue team.

Following the game, Sveum announced that third baseman Ian Stewart, who was pulled from the game in the second inning, was day-to-day with a mild—emphasis on mild—left quad strain. Josh Vitters is also day-to-day with the same injury.

Tuesday was the second-to-last day for the Cubs at the Fitch Park practice facility. The team will move over to HoHoKam Stadium after practice tomorrow, and they’ll move into their new complex in the Riverview section of Mesa, Ariz., next year. Manager Dale Sveum jokingly said he’d likely shed a tear for Fitch when the team packs up tomorrow.

There was good news this morning, when General Manager Jed Hoyer announced that an MRI showed Cubs pitcher Matt Garza has only a mild lat strain on his left side and shouldn’t be shut down for more than about a week. There was also much talk today about (and by) Starlin Castro.

Here are some select quotes from Tuesday’s action.

Hoyer on Garza

“We’re probably going to let him rest for about a week—make sure he’s pain-free—at which point he can ramp back up his throwing. It’s safe to say it pushes back his first Cactus League start. What it means for the regular season, it’s clearly much too early to say. But we felt like it was really good news. It’s just a mild strain, and we think it’ll be about a week until he should be pain free based on the MRI. Matt is in good spirits. He felt much better yesterday. We’re optimistic. It was certainly a positive read from our standpoint.”

Sveum on Garza

“[It was] probably about as good as we could get out of the MRI. He’ll set back maybe five or seven days without throwing. Then we’ll get him back out there. Obviously, it affects probably his first outing—for sure his first outing. But everything else from there hopefully is fine for the start of the season.”

Sveum on Castro

“I like the way he’s been going about his business for the first three days in camp defensively. It’s one thing I challenged him to do. [I said], ‘Your next step now in all this is to win a Gold Glove.’ Obviously, that takes a lot of focus and hard work and being focused for 150 pitches a game and 162 games. He’s got the ability to do it. The rest is up to him.”

“I think the next step for him is to become more of a winning-type hitter. Just understanding any situation about driving runs in. It’s having great at-bats in those key situations and not trying to do too much when the game is on the line. Grinding out at-bats and not making quick early outs on pitcher’s pitches.”

“Besides obviously a couple lapses … He improved tremendously throughout the season. I saw it, so hopefully he keeps improving. That’s all we’re asking for out of a guy like him because the upside there just keeps growing. The rest of it now is pretty much up to him with the experience he already has in the big leagues.”

Castro on Castro

“Some people think that our team is not very good, but we think that this team is very good because we’ve got four good starters. If you’ve got four good starters, you can compete with whatever team.”

“I know that God gave me [the ability to] hit. That’s why when I went to the Dominican, I worked very hard every day on my defense. I want to be like [Darwin] Barney and win a Gold Glove. It’s going to be fun to win a Gold Glove at shortstop, second base and first base. It’s going to be fun because [Anthony] Rizzo is very good too. … It’s good motivation for me. I know I can be like those guys and play very good defense.”

“[If the team is winning], I’m going to be even more of a superstar than I am supposed to be in the future. I know I can be very good because I’ve never been lazy with my work habits. I work hard to be better every day.”

“[Getting the long-term contract] didn’t change anything, but you feel a little more relaxed because my family is going to be good now. I can just play baseball and forget about everything.”

“This year, I concentrated more on my game plan. It’s going to be perfect.”

Baseball is finally back. Pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training this past weekend, and Cubs fans everywhere got a little more excited with the realization that the baseball season is almost here.

To get us back into gear, the February issue of Vine Line previewed the squad heading into Mesa, Ariz. We broke the team down into five categories—starting pitching, relief pitching, catchers, infielders and outfielders—to give fans a clearer picture of what to expect when the Cubs break camp and head to Chicago.

Below is a look at the infield. The February issue is on newsstands now, with single issues available by calling 800-618-8377. Or visit the Vine Line page on Cubs.com to subscribe to the magazine.

Darwin Barney had a breakout season in 2012 on the defensive side of the ball, winning a much-deserved Gold Glove, but his bat still leaves something to be desired. With a front office that highly values the ability to get on base, Barney’s sub-.300 OBP could be a cause for concern. While his glove alone makes him playable on an everyday basis, it will be interesting to see if he can improve enough offensively to help ease any doubts Theo Epstein and company may have about his future role.

Starlin Castro deserves credit for realizing that despite a solid batting average, he can still improve as an all-around hitter. Under the tutelage of new hitting coach James Rowson, who took over when Rudy Jaramillo was relieved of his duties on June 12, Castro was asked midseason to alter his aggressive style at the plate. He struggled at first, which explains why his batting average fell when Rowson took over. However, toward the end of the season, something seemed to click. Not only did his batting average rebound to a respectable .283, but he was also walking and hitting for more power. With a full offseason of training under his belt, expect an improved approach at the plate to lead to big things in 2013.

Anthony Rizzo hit 15 home runs in just 87 games after a midseason call-up. In his second season, he’ll be relied upon, along with Alfonso Soriano, to provide much of the power for the Cubs’ offense. Rizzo will likely slot back into the three hole, where the Cubs envision he’ll be a mainstay for the better part of the next decade. And his defense at first will also keep up the high standards set by his predecessors Derrek Lee and Mark Grace.

The biggest question mark is what will happen at third base. With a lack of options in the minors or via free agency, the Cubs decided to retain veteran Ian Stewart. It appears the team will enter Spring Training with Stewart battling Luis Valbuena for the bulk of the playing time. Though both left-handed hitters struggled with the bat last season, Stewart’s ceiling is much higher, as he provides plus defense and has shown in the past that he has solid power (25 home runs in 2009). If Stewart can prove his issues over the past few seasons were actually the result of a nagging wrist injury—which he finally had surgically repaired in July—it’s possible the Cubs may once again get solid production from the hot corner. Otherwise, look for Stewart, Valbuena or whomever else the Cubs may find, to serve as placeholders until one of the organization’s third-base prospects is ready to step in and assume the role on a long-term basis.

Ready to get the 2013 baseball season started? The Cubs campaign kicks off next weekend, Jan. 18-20, at the 28th Annual Cubs Convention, held for the first time at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in downtown Chicago. The event will feature more than 75 current, past and future Cubs players and coaches, and will offer more than 100 photo and autograph opportunities.

The Opening Ceremony begins on Friday, Jan. 18, at 5 p.m., and will feature player and alumni introductions on a red carpet runway that will offer special VIP access to children 16 and under. Following the Opening Ceremony, guests will find some of their favorite Cubs throughout the hotel for an exciting Autograph Hunt Game. The evening will conclude with longtime Cubs Convention favorite Cubs Bingo, led by Wayne Messmer, as well as a live radio broadcast of WGN Sports Night.

From Draft Day to the Big Leagues—Cubs minor league prospects Dallas Beeler, Matt Szczur, Robert Whitenack and Tony Zych discuss what it’s like to get drafted by the Chicago Cubs and advance through the minor leagues.

Sunday’s program features two panel sessions to close out the Convention:

Down on the Farm—Senior Vice President of Scouting and Player Development Jason McLeod, Director of Pro Scouting Joe Bohringer and Director of Player Development Brandon Hyde will be joined by Cubs farmhands Chris Rusin and Josh Vitters to give a breakdown of the Cubs minor league teams from Iowa down to Mesa. Hosted by Vine Line editor Gary Cohen and broadcaster Dave Otto.

Stat Sundays—Broadcasters Jim Deshaies, Len Kasper and WGN’s Bob Vorwald offer insight into the statistics they analyze and feature during Stat Sundays throughout the season.

In addition to the sessions highlighted above, the Convention includes many new and returning activities throughout the weekend for fans:

Rookie of the Year Movie Night, presented by the Cubs Kids Club, makes its Cubs Convention debut. Fans can eat popcorn and relax with family and friends Saturday evening while watching the popular film, Rookie of the Year.

Walgreens Field is a new miniature turf diamond that gives kids a fun place to take practice batting, play pick-up wiffle ball games or participate in professional instructional clinics as part of the Baseball Interactive Zone. Cubs players and coaches will pair up with Illinois Baseball Academy instructors to conduct a series of training opportunities for fans of all ages throughout the weekend.

Comcast SportsNet Chicago is giving fans the chance to test their play-by-play broadcasting skills in a custom-built fantasy broadcasting booth. Guests will call a pre-recorded play in the booth, then download a recorded copy of their work for keeps.

The Sony PlayStation Gaming Zone gives attendees a chance to take a break from the action to play MLB 12 The Show at one of several Sony PS3 kiosks.

The LEGOLAND® Discovery Center returns with an area dedicated for families to exercise their creativity with the small building blocks.

American Girl’s Activity Area features activities inspired by American Girl dolls and the chance to win a new doll and book.

The Chicago Sun-Times Photo Kiosk lets fans have their picture taken for the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times with customizable headlines that make for a memorable souvenir.

Fans can learn about or contribute to the history of the Cubs franchise in collaboration with team archivists. Historical pieces of memorabilia will be on hand for viewing, and guests can receive professional tips on how to preserve their own valuable keepsakes. Attendees are invited to share their personal stories with a video crew, and they may be used in future promotions or publications.

Limited individual weekend passes for the 2013 Cubs Convention are still available for $60 per pass plus convenience fees. Visit www.cubs.com/convention or call 1-800-THE-CUBS. A percentage of the proceeds from the Cubs Convention benefits Chicago Cubs Charities. To date, Cubs Convention has raised approximately $4 million for Chicago Cubs Charities.

The past few years on the North Side have been dedicated to the future. The Cubs’ goal has been to establish young talent at the major league level and give those players every available opportunity to become stars, either now or in the future. Apparently, some baseball experts have taken notice.

ESPN’s Keith Law unveiled his list of the 25 best major leaguers 25 years old or younger, and Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo were both part of the talented group (subscription required).

Castro, who was ranked No. 6 on last year’s list, came in at No. 8 in the 2013 edition and was the second highest ranked infielder of the 25. The 23-year-old had a .283 average and a 3.4 WAR in 2012 and improved his plate discipline and defense as the season progressed.

Law on Castro’s future:

“If Castro barely improves from here, he’s still a valuable big leaguer because he can handle short and is likely to hit at least .300 with plenty of doubles power. I think he’ll grow into 20-homer power in time.”

Rizzo, who also made the list, slid in at No. 18 and was the highest ranked first baseman. After struggling in a 2011 call-up with the Padres, he put doubter’s minds at ease with a .285 average and 15 home runs after a late June call-up to the Cubs in 2012.

Law on Rizzo’s future:

“A full season for Rizzo in 2013 should see him hit close to 25 homers with an average in the high .200s along with that great defense at first. … Given his age and the speed with which he has made adjustments, I like his odds of figuring out southpaws.”

Each year, sabermetric enthusiast Dan Szymborski compiles projected stats for the upcoming season for all major league players. Using an intricate formula, the computer-based projections, better known as ZiPS (sZymborski Projection System), give an estimate for most notable offensive and pitching categories. Late last week, Szymborski unveiled his projections for the 2013 Cubs.

It should come as no surprise that shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo are projected to make the biggest impact in 2013, each slated for a 4.0 WAR (wins above an average replacement player). Castro is projected to hit .294/.332/.446 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with 14 homers, 12 triples, 24 stolen bases and 77 RBI. The slugging Rizzo rates out at .279/.349/.503, with 31 homers, 109 driven in and 32 doubles.

On the pitching side, Jeff Samardzija projects to be the best starter with a 3.1 WAR. He’s estimated to throw 169 innings, strike out 172 batters and record a 3.62 ERA.

According to Szymborski, newcomer Edwin Jackson should have an ERA around 3.91 over 186.2 innings and fan 159 hitters. His estimated WAR of 2.8 is slightly better than Matt Garza’s 2.7.

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